This blog is dedicated to making conscious choices during renovation and design that are better for the environment.

Aug 16 Light it Up

It's been a few weeks since the last update, but things are progressing downstairs! This past week, the electrician has been performing his magic to give us "the miracle of light." (his words, not mine, but I love it.)

Electrical is definitely something to leave in the hands of a licensed professional. Before bringing in the electrician, we had to make decisions about what type of lighting we wanted:

I wasn't exactly clear on what the differences are between bulbs, so after researching several sites, decided to put together this simple guide:

Understanding the difference between incandescent, halogen, CFL and LED light bulbs.

I thought it was as simple as choosing some LED recessed lights and some bathroom sconces and calling it a day. Oh, was that naive! Kris pulled up the website where our electrician was ordering the lights from and proceeded to scroll through dozens of recessed lighting options and asking: "Do you want 4" or 6"? What style and color of trim? Wall-wash? Dimmable? Where do you want the switches? " My jaw dropped at all the options.

Thanks to Kris' attention to detail and our electrician's expertise, we have a great lighting scheme made up of a mix of LED, CFL and halogen that should be overall energy efficient and hopefully never cause anyone to stumble into some bad lighting. (Yes, that is a Clueless reference.) The EPA has a nifty, interactive "Choose a Light" guide to help you select the appropriate type of light for your space.

So I absolutely cannot wait to see this "miracle of light" fully illuminate one of these nights very soon!